A Maiden You May Know By the Name of Annabel Lee
by kweenofalldreams13
Summary: Her past is dark, her origins darker, and her future undetermined but, with the nightmares she's been having, probably dark.  So how is it that this mysterious orphan became best friends with the always-mischievous Weasley twins?  Starts in GoF.
1. Good Morning Good Morning

**Author's Note:** A Harry Potter story that has been in my secret cavern for quite some time now. It's eventual Fred/OC. Very eventual. In fact, I've written a bunch of it already and she's still not really with Fred yet. But it'll build up :) I own only the things that you don't recognize. Enjoy your read!

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><p><strong>Good Morning, Good Morning<strong>

I blinked open one eye, cautious. What I saw staring back at me was an eyeball. A dark blue eyeball. I reared back my arm and punched Fred. He laughed but I groaned.

"Mornin', sunshine!" he squealed. I chucked a pillow at him, missing by a couple inches and he giggled. Where was George?

"Get out, Weas," I grunted at him, pulling my covers higher up over my head. The idiot snickered but obliged, slamming my door loudly behind him.

"When ya gotta get up, ya gotta get up!" he chanted through the door and I rolled my eyes, even though the stupid bugger couldn't see me. "Hurry up, Anna, we have to get to the train station by eleven and you haven't even got all your things in your trunk yet!" I nudged off the covers, my eyes drifting over to the clock hanging from the wall. Oh, God! I rolled off the bed, shoving everything I could fit into my trunk that was absolutely necessary. Fred chuckled from the outside. I blew out a huff at him. Stupid git.

So let's just say all got said and done and I finally made my way, clean and fresh-feeling, down the stairs to meet my almost-family, dumping my trunk down by the door and sitting at the bustling dining table. Two of our other almost-family members were present as well, the famous (or infamous, depending on your point of view) Harry Potter and Hermione Granger. Hermione smiled at me from across the table. I gave her a little wave. I had been a bit jealous of them, seeing as they had all gone with Arthur to the Quidditch World Cup a couple of days ago and I had stayed at home, but it was okay. I had wanted to stay anyways, right? Nasty thing is, I missed out on all the drama that went down while they were there–the return of the Death Eaters? I mean, how much more fun could you get?

"Have a good sleep, Annabel dearest?" George inquired, earning himself a kick in the shin under the table from me. He simply ignored it and kept his grin steady.

"Would've been loads better if I'd gotten a few more hours of it. Fred." I shot a look at him, but he sat there smiling, like he always did. So instead of pushing the crap along further, I frowned into my bowl of oatmeal and grumbled, "Stupid arses."

"What's that I hear? A possible_ swear word_ from the holy, saintly, virgin-eared child that we all know and love?" Fred exclaimed loudly, slapping a "surprised" hand over his mouth. I rolled my eyes at him. Growing up around the Weasley clan, you got used to this kind of daily shenanigan. But the weird occurrence was the little nudge I felt against my foot under the table. Ginny on my left seemed to be rather unconcerned with my current state as she was chatting animatedly with her mother about this coming year at Hogwarts. Hermione across from me was absorbed in her eggs benedict and Ron to her side. George, on Hermione's other side, was busy sending out his latest creation, magical letter adhesives that the victim didn't feel when applied and would stick on as long as the applicator desired, which spelled out "WEATHERBY" on the back of Percy's head. So I turned to my right, where sat a Fred Weasley grinning mischievously into his breakfast platter. I stared.

"Can I help you, Fred?" I mumbled, crossing one leg over the other. He leaned over as if to whisper in my ear...

...And blew a huge raspberry on my neck. I rolled my eyes once more and stood up, taking my plate to the sink to wash it the Muggle way. As irritating as the twins were together, when they chose to divide and conquer, they had their minds put to something maddeningly wrong. And as usual every morning, a trio of owls flocked to the window, Errol flying straight into it. Pig fluttered around the table in a few excited circles before landing in front of Ron. Hermes, on the other hand, came to a skittering stop before Percy, and turned his head, almost disapprovingly toward Pig and then back to Percy. Ah, how these owls fitted their owners.

"You've all done with your school shopping, haven't you?" inquired Molly, waving her wand at a pan that began to scrub itself shiny. A general murmur of assent echoed across the table, and Hermione, as if to affirm evidence, brought her schoolbag atop the table with all its books and supplies within. "Wonderful, wonderful. Now, if you lot will go on and get your trunks and bring them down here so that we can get on to Platform 9 3/4!" The last one up and down the stairs with his things, predictably, was Ron, who always got late starts when something important was happening that day.

And so two-by-two we poofed into the emerald flames. Arthur and Ginny went first, then Percy and Bill, Charlie and Ron, the twins, Hermione and me, and last Harry and Molly. We all gathered together in Diagon Alley before Arthur and Percy ventured back to the Ministry for work and Charlie and Bill hopped aboard a few trains back to _their_ work. Or at least, Bill went to his sect of Gringotts and Charlie got his own broom off to Norway. We received the usual hugs and kisses goodbye from Molly and boarded the train. I walked with the twins till we met up with Lee Jordan and Katie Bell.

"Anna!" half-squealed Katie, and pulled me into her arms for a long hug. "How was your summer, love?"

"It was terrific, Katie, dear, and yours?" I asked, feeling my formal instincts kicking in as the five of us took our seats in the usual cabin, the one that the trolley lady passed by first, so as to achieve the best sweets before she ran out.

"Oh, just lovely! Did you hear what happened at the World Cup? With the Death Eater attacks and all that? Maddening, isn't it?" she exclaimed, tracing her hand over the countryside shapes outside the window. "D'you reckon they'll try anything this year? What with all the excitement from the World Cup, I wouldn't doubt another uprising from the lot of them! But in any account, I'm quite glad that Ireland won out over Bulgaria. Michael Troy is my idol..." She trailed off, clutching her heart almost dramatically. I stifled back a snort. Thankfully, the awkward buzz between me and Katie broke when the familiar calls of "Candy from the trolley?" rang out just by the door, and I slid it open.

"Afternoon, ma'am. I'll take...um, a pack of Drooble's, Bertie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, and...Chocolate Frogs, please." She prepared the three sets of candies and I handed her the regarded price of five Sickles, six Knuts. I grinned. "Thanks, ma'am." As I sat, I unwrapped my wizard card for my Chocolate Frog first.

"Who'd you get, Anna?" asked George, perusing his own Famous Wizard Card of the day.

"Devlin Whitehorn. Who'd you get?" I tossed the card to him. He tossed his own back. I scanned it quickly, then handed it back to him. "Gideon Crumb? Trade me, will you?" I asked him, leaning my head up against the window. He nodded, but Fred burst in.

"Oi, Anna, she's given me two. I've got Armando Dippet and Merton Graves. I haven't gotten Whitehorn yet and I know you haven't got Graves..." With that he gave me his greatest puppy-dog face. I quirked an eyebrow, but handed over my Devlin Whitehorn. Fred looked rather mollified, as he passed me Merton Graves.

"Well, well, well. What have we here? Welcome back to Hogwarts, Annabel _Castletree_." And as I looked up in that moment, it felt as though my blood had turned cold running through my veins. What was he doing here?


	2. The Real Slim Shady

**Author's Note: **Okay, so if I'm going to keep publishing stuff, I'm going to need to get some reviews from you guys. And if you've been the loyal readers I know you are (wink!), you'll review soon, please? Thank you for reading this and hope you have a good day. Oh, and there are some adult themes and swearing in this one. But the plot thickens, ladies and gents :)

**The Real Slim Shady**

Just seeing his face made me sick again, no matter what kind of sweet and happy face he put on for the rest of Hogwarts. I snapped my eyes shut and sucked in a long breath. "Hullo, Alexander," I whispered through my teeth, feeling my hands instinctively fan out over my stomach. I bit my lip again furiously. I heard movement of fabric in the compartment and Katie's voice sounded half-angrily.

"Leave us alone, Xander," she declared, and I opened my eyes. She shoved him by the chest out the door and slammed it shut. He smirked knowingly and then walked back away to his cabin. "Annabel?" Katie mumbled softly, running a hand gingerly over my hair. "Annabel sweetie? I'm so sorry, honey. But he's gone now..." I nodded my head and sniffed, quickly brushing the tears away from my eyes. It was bull, above all things, to show weakness in front of your friends. You just didn't do that, especially when you were friends with the epic Weasley twins, Lee Jordan, and Katie Bell. They had outstanding reputations around Hogwarts–I mean, the twins were the greatest Beaters in Hogwarts, Katie was one of the best Chasers, and Lee was commentator! What was I compared to that?

"Sorry," I muttered, and fished around in my Bertie Bott's bag for a suitable bean. When I found one that seemed alright, I popped it into my mouth, chewed briefly, then swallowed hard. The unpleasant taste of dirt lingered on my tongue. I sniffed again and looked out the window. The sun was still out, but not for long. It drifted along the mountains, setting them to a bluish-purple shade. I breathed slowly in and out my nose. Katie sat back down beside me and tried to hug me, but I squirmed away a little bit. It was not her hands I wanted on me at the moment. I didn't want anybody's hands on me at the moment. That wouldn't happen.

"C'mon, Anna," said Fred quietly, taking a hold of my hand and pulling me out into the hallway. "Let's take a walk." As my feet began to carry me out through the hallway, Fred didn't relinquish his hold on my hand, but instead slipped his fingers between mine. "Are you ever gonna tell me what happened with you and him that made you so objected to him last year? Aside from turning into a complete wanker the last half of the year, he seemed...I dunno, like a decent guy." I sniffed once more, looking through the glass doors at the people laughing merrily in their own compartments.

"I really don't like to talk about it, Fred," I said in a monotone. He ran his other hand down along my arm.

"Please, Anna. You know you can trust me, you live with me on the holidays," he replied earnestly, stopping and looking down at me. A sinking feeling stopped in the pit of my stomach, and tingled around the edges of it. His eyes were serious and longing and innocent, and as much as I wanted to tell him, I couldn't. He'd never respect me or look at me the same way ever again. It would never be the same, because he would know what Katie came upon last year, he would know _exactly_ what bloody Alexander Pritchard did to me. And that...would not be good. Not good at all.

"I'm really sorry, Fred, but I...I promise, I'll tell you another time," I breathed, running a hand through my hair. He nodded his head understandingly, and his eyes wandered down to our intertwined fingers. He withdrew his quickly, as though seeing it was on the hot stove but not feeling any of the pain just yet.

"Sorry," he mumbled, and for once that joyful grin wasn't playing across his face, for once he wasn't joking about the fact that he had some kind of girl on his arm and was going to get laid tonight or tomorrow or something of the sort. For once his face was serious, one of the Weasley twins! Suddenly, he burst out, "Anna, do you think about your parents often?" I bit my lip and swallowed hard, shrugging my shoulders.

"Only when something around here gives me reason to think of them...sometimes I wonder what really happened to them, what things would be like if they were still here...but I don't really mind. I'm happy how I am. I like being with you and your family, but I can't say I'd be happier either way. I don't know what things would be like if they'd never died or disappeared or whatever." I sniffled again, imagining how disappointed my parents would have been in me last year, had they known what I was neglecting to tell Fred. As he began to speak, I let my mind wander into memories.

_"Alexander," I mumble, leaning my head against his shoulder. "I've got something to say, Xander, s-something important." He turned his head to look seriously at me, a familiar boyish smile playing across his handsome face._

_"Do tell, darling," he said nonchalantly, slinging an arm around my shoulders. I gasped in one deep breath and breathed it out slowly, directly meeting his enchanting gaze._

_"I love you."_

_His entire face froze for a half-moment and then lit up. "Well, Bel...I love you, too." With that, he leaned toward me for a long kiss, which I, of course, granted him. After a moment, he pulled back and began to kiss along my jaw and neck, moving down to my collarbone. His long, lean fingers took their usual routine, finagling me out of my blouse. I slid my hand down his starched white shirt, yanking the buttons open, loosening his tie. His hands made their way around my hips, and pulled me tighter to his figure. But as he started to undo the zipper on my skirt, I pushed at his chest._

_"Xander, babe, don't," I breathed briefly, nipping at his jaw. But instead of continuing to kiss me, as per usual, he pushed me off roughly. "Xander."_

_"Annabel, honestly? I thought you loved me," he groaned, then his face rearranged from disappointed and exasperated to playful. "Is this about your _virtue_? Love, you know I'd take care of you through your first time. It's me, isn't it?"_

_"Love, just not now...I'm not...not ready for that right now. Okay? Of course I trust you. I just can't...do that...yet." My face burned hot red. I knew that I wanted Xander to be my first, but at the moment, I wasn't ready. Unlike the millions of girls my age, my year, I was still a virgin, and I still was unprepared for the kind of emotional bondage that sex took. "I love you..."_

_"Annabel," he scoffed, eyeing me incredulously. "I've fucked plenty of birds, alright, I know what I'm bloody doing. Just let me do what I do best." With that, he jammed his hands into the front of my skirt again, but I kicked him off. "Annabel! Do not deny me!" he roared, but I pushed back, feeling fury in my veins._

_"Fucked plenty of birds? I thought I wasn't just another fuck-able bird, Xander, I thought we were in love." He snorted._

_"Love. I'm looking for fun and a good time. Don't you confuse yourself, stupid, silly girl. Now shut those eyes and open those legs." His growl came out dangerous, but I wasn't paying attention. I was trying to crawl away. He grew tired of my act, and drew his wand from his robes, casting some wicked kind of dark magic on me. A terrible pain sprouted in my abdomen, and for two weeks I was violently sick. Finally, a fourth year called Cho Chang discovered me lying almost half-dead on the dormitory floor and quickly took me to Katie, who took me to Madame Pomfrey in the hospital wing._

_Xander had indeed cast horrific dark magic on me. By the time I got to Madame Pomfrey, black tattoos had spread from between my hipbones up my abdomen, swirling in twists about my navel. She did all she could to reverse the spells, cast everything she knew on me, but what Alexander did could not be undone. He had cast a spell that forced my ovaries and uterus to almost completely rot. Madame Pomfrey had been able to partially mend them, so that I would not die of infection, but the damage was still done. I had always wanted to have children, be a mother...but now it was impossible. The pain and terror he'd caused me were completely irreversible. And I would never be the same, thanks to him._

Katie and I were the only ones that knew exactly what Xander did to me. The story for the rest of them was that he'd pressured me into sex and when I refused, he dumped me and left me brokenhearted. Katie promised never to tell anyone, and I couldn't tell Pomfrey who exactly did it to me, because I still loved him at the time. But Katie hated him for it, nearly went after him with the Cruciatus Curse, until I stopped her. She would've killed him, if I'd allowed her. But I was still in love with the git. And it was doubtful I'd ever fall out of love with him...unless, of course–no...that'd never happen, _he_ only saw me as a friend...

"...Anna. Anna? Anna!"

I snapped back to life.

"I'm sorry, Fred, what was that?" I choked out. He smiled gently, pulling me closer to his side.

"I was wondering, d'you want to come down to the Three Broomsticks with me on the first Hogsmeade trip this fall? George is going to check Zonko's for some products for our latest inventions, but I wanted to take a weekend off and I was hoping I'd have a lovely girl to accompany me." At first, it failed to register with me, the question he was asking. And then, my face turned a painfully rosy red. _Pardon?_

"Like a date?" I blurted out, and subsequently, Fred's ears glowed about as red as my face felt. He opened and closed his mouth a few times before blowing out a huge breath of air.

"Yes, like a date," he admitted, stopping dead in his tracks. I turned to face him completely and his hand wrapped gently around mine. His eyes were warm, serious, and, strangely, very very vulnerable. The other hand hesitantly dangled in the air at his side before taking place on my hip. Feeling a strange sense of dejá vu, I instinctively flinched. He took it the wrong way, and his face fell and hand withdrew. "I'm sorry, I didn't know I–"

"Fred," I mumbled, an unreasonable tear trickled down my cheek. "I would quite enjoy going to Hogsmeade with you...but we must be friends...at least for now. Please understand," I begged, "it's not that I don't have feelings for you. I...can't put you in that position. I can't let myself–" _–fall in love with you like I did with him. You don't want damaged goods, Fred. That's the last thing you need..._

He nodded, pretending to comprehend.

"Alright...then I'll meet you outside Ravenclaw Tower on Saturday at eleven a.m., is that a fine time?"

"Yes," I whispered, then pulled myself to his chest, feeling the beat of his heart against my throat. "I'm sorry, Fred. You'll understand soon enough, I promise."

And though I said it and did all I could to mean it, it was the very last thing I wanted Fred to know.


	3. Loyal To No One

**Author's Note:** So to those of you who like to keep up with this, this is for you. I'd really appreciate a few more reviews, since I've put a lot of effort into this story. Thanks a lot and enjoy the chapter :)

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><p><strong>Loyal to No One<strong>

The arrival to Hogwarts was made rather safely and blandly. And the Sorting Hat put the usual new first years into whatever houses they seemed fit for. The only new one that made sense that I actually paid attention to was the younger Creevey, Dennis, who was placed into Gryffindor along with his brother Colin, the odd child that had followed Harry Potter around with a camera in his first year, Harry's second year. George continued to sneak me mischievous glances from across our tables as though he knew exactly what was on my mind.

However, I took my walk up to Ravenclaw Tower alone, avoiding every trace of Alexander Pritchard or Fred Weasley that I could. And I succeeded.

That is, until the next morning in my first class, Charms.

The sixth year Ravenclaws were all thrown together in a single Charms class first period, first thing in the morning after breakfast. And unfortunately, the sixth year Ravenclaws consisted of not only me, but my infamous ex-boyfriend, who, though I ran from him as though he _was_ the plague, was still able to smirk at me from across the room. Eventually, a folded up piece of parchment made its way to my desk. And upon unfolding it, I received a rather nasty note.

_Don't be rude, you ugly prude._

Underneath it was hastily drawn a very skimpily dressed caricature of me, with long, curly hair dangling down to my elbows, bent over at the waist with a tall redhead boy, presumably a Weasley, behind me, holding my hips from behind me with an ugly sneer on his face and moving his hips suggestively against mine. I looked up, and over at Alexander, who was smirking with a few of his henchmen. I felt a few prickles in my throat, but no, I couldn't give him that satisfaction. Instead, I put on my strongest face and shredded the parchment. _That bloody git..._

"Hi, Anna," said Katie softly after we met up in the Great Hall. I fell into step beside her, holding my book-bag close to my side.

"Hi, Katie," I mumbled, taking a quick moment to eyeball my schedule. "You wouldn't happen to have a free period next, would you?" As I looked up, a great smile lit up her face. "You have! Well, would you like to spend the free period with me down by the lake?"

"Yes, yes, I'd quite like that," she confirmed, grabbing my hand. Together we ran down to the lake like we'd loved to after classes got over each Friday in the past few years, and plopped down in the grass, yanking off our shoes and socks and dipping our feet into the water. "So Anna, have you heard that there's to be a ball this Christmas? A Yule Ball! It's supposed to be quiet, but Dad's let it slip," she whispered, grinning excitedly.

"Who do you plan on going with?" I gasped, pretending to look overly interested.

"I dunno yet, but I'd really fancy George to ask me," she blushed. "Is Fred taking you?" My face began to match hers. I shrugged.

"He invited me to Hogsmeade and I said I'd go with him, but...I'm not really sure if I'm ready to get back into dating...just yet..." Normally, I'd expect Katie to understand, to smile and tell me that alright, what I'd wanted was completely reasonable, but this time, she frowned at me. I stared at her. "What?"

"Bloody hell, Annabel, it's been months. Don't you think it's about time you at least _try_ to forget about stupid Xander Pritchard so you can see what's directly in front of your nose? The less you worry about that bloody idiot who does _not_ deserve your time or stress, the more of a chance you'll have at actually being _happy_ with somebody who will actually _care_ about you. And if you could please, _please_ just open those doe eyes of yours for just a moment to the wonderful boy you could have, it would undoubtedly make the both of you incredibly happy." She grew exasperated and grabbed me by the shoulders. "Fred _fancies_ you, and if you could get it through your thick skull that you fancy him too, the pair of you could finally get together and stop everyone all their worrying over you."

"Everyone's worrying...over me?"

"Over the pair of you. Everyone knows, Annabel, everyone but you two."

"How could everyone be worrying? There's nothing to worry over, I'm not...Fred doesn't feel that way for me, I'd know if he did, alright? He's not that hard to figure out, he's Fred." Katie took one look at me and laughed humorlessly.

"If you honestly paid attention, you'd realise he's not exactly the simpleton you're making him out to be. He fancies you just as much, if not more than, you fancy him. So open those bloody depressed eyes of yours, pluck up some courage, and fix yourself a date or something with him before another pretty bird does." With that, she angrily stood up and walked off in a huff. Once I was sure she was gone, I lay back and look at the sky.

I knew I liked Fred. I knew I had a mad fancy for him. And even if he did have a mad fancy for me too...how on Earth would it work? On holidays, we lived in the same house. What if we split and it turned ugly? I didn't want to have to go through that awkwardness every day at the Burrow. And Xander...Katie was right about how I needed to get over Xander but...I couldn't do it. Not just yet. Xander was still on my mind all the time, be it how much I missed him or how much I loathed him, but still, he was always there. Some piece of me would still love him unconditionally and that piece would never belong to Fred. And that would kill him and me. But something...

Something made me continue to want Fred, even after thinking about all this...something deep in my chest, soaking through my ribcage, so realistic it was almost tangible.

I stood up, beginning to feel a little sick again, though perhaps not as sick as the last time. Fred's face was stirring in my mind, and his smile was radiating through all my pores. This was it. I was going to tell him everything: how I felt about him, what happened with Xander, every little thing from the start. And however he chose to take it...well I suppose he'd take it and I'd deal with the repercussions.

That evening, though, when I next saw him, things, as usual, did not go as expected.

I'd walked over to the Gryffindor table at dinnertime, expecting to find George at Fred's one side and perhaps another Gryffindor Quidditch player at the other, and on that matter, I was correct. However, I didn't expect that other Quidditch player to be playing with Fred's hair and subsequently sucking his face off. Or Angelina Johnson. And all the rational thoughts running through my head in that instant dropped off and burned into sickening little drops of acidic rage. Without breaking up the _lovely_ couple, I stormed away from the table and up the stairs to Ravenclaw Tower.

But not before catching the vindictively bitter eye of Katie Bell as my heart shattered into a million tiny, lucid, searing shards on the floor.


End file.
